


Of Cats and Chupacabras

by MapacheLuna



Series: Kyouhaba Week - Soulmates Universe [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, KyouHaba Week, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 22:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4803821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapacheLuna/pseuds/MapacheLuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shigeru was NOT jealous. He just wasn't completely enthused that Oikawa-san was using their practices to gush about his newly found soulmate. So what if it wasn't actually hurting their practices, it was normal to be annoyed about stuff like that. He wasn't jealous. He wasn't. And why was Kyoutani acting so weird? It was pissing him off.</p>
<p>He just wanted some ice cream, damn it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Cats and Chupacabras

**Author's Note:**

> This got too long, but I regret very little, because Oikuro is my secret filthy OTP, and I couldn't help myself. And I know the prompt probably called for something very different when it said "jealousy," but I interpret it as I deem will fit the story, soooooo, YOLO.
> 
> Kyouhaba Week: Day 2: Prompt/Jealousy

It was all Karasuno’s fault. More accurately, it was Karasuno’s vice-captain’s fault, but Shigeru felt slightly guilty entertaining such sour thoughts about someone who looked like he could bring world peace just by smiling at the UN. But Iwaizumi was the one who kept in contact with Kageyama, so it would probably just be more accurate to blame him instead. Or Oikawa, but for the first time in a situation involving him, the resulting existential crisis was only tangentially related to him.

(As a general rule of thumb, any first year experiencing some kind of existential/identity/sexuality crisis tended to blame Oikawa.)

Like any noteworthy moment in his young, adolescent life, it all began at club practice.

“Oi, Oikawa,” Shigeru looked over at the same time as Oikawa, their private practice interrupted by Iwaizumi across the gym. He was standing over his bag and waving his phone over his head. “Sugawara wants your contact information. You want me to give it to him?”

Oikawa frowned and popped a hip out as a thoughtful expression crossed his face. “Mr. Refreshing? Why?”

“The hell if I know,” Iwaizumi snorted. “He just said he wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Why are you even talking to Mr. Refreshing, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa had a mean hairy eyeball when he wanted to. “I know you’re his type, but you know his soulmate is the captain, right?”

“His ty-, you know what, no, I don’t want to know,” Iwaizumi pinched the bridge of his nose with an aggravated sigh. “Look, do you want me to give it to him, or not?”

“Let me talk to him,” Oikawa declared, extending his hand and casting a glance at Shigeru. “You don’t mind, do you, Yahaba? It’ll only be for a few minutes. Gotta see what the enemy has to say that’s so important.”

Shigeru huffed a little laugh. “It’s alright, Oikawa-san.”

“Great!” The other setter beamed, before looking back at Iwaizumi. “Any day now, Iwa-chan!” He admirably, but not unsurprisingly, managed to catch the phone before it made contact with his head. “You could have broken it!”

“Worth it.”

“Rude, so rude, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa muttered before his fingers began to fly across the keypad. Shigeru tried to distract himself by looking around the gym, taking in what everyone else was doing, but without fail, his eyes always fell back to where Kindaichi and Kyoutani were practicing their spikes with Shinji setting for them.

Kindaichi was obviously still skittish around Kyoutani, although for once, Kyoutani wasn’t overtly doing anything threatening or aggressive. He was just standing there, arms folded as he watched Kindaichi run up to meet the toss, and he couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw the other’s lips move into something that might have been a suggestion or a compliment, because Kindaichi stumbled in his landing and Shinji’s mouth actually dropped open, lips curling up in delighted surprise.

His attention was called away from puzzling scene when Oikawa gasped next to him, a delighted trill that actually caused Iwaizumi to start meandering over as well.

“What does he want?” Their ace echoed Shigeru’s thoughts, right down to the curiosity tinging the words.

“He said he thinks he knows someone with the same mark as me,” Oikawa was practically vibrating, his eyes shining. “He might know my soulmate, Iwa-chan!”

“How can he be sure?” Shigeru could admire the healthy skepticism in Iwaizumi’s tone, because he was thinking the same thing. Had Karasuno’s vice captain ever been close enough to actually _see_ Oikawa’s wrist?

“He said he noticed it at the Inter High, but he wasn’t sure then.”

Well, that made a little sense, Shigeru supposed. He could recall the Inter High, everyone riding the high of the win, but trying to reel it in enough to shake Karasuno’s hands without looking like a bunch of smug bastards -well, most of them, anyway. Shigeru had ended up shaking Kageyama’s hand, trying to look anywhere but directly at him, because if there was one thing more unsettling than Oikawa when they lost, it was Kageyama Tobio’s practically pupil-less eyes following a loss. One glance at his face had been enough to guarantee him some unsettling dreams for a few nights.

Instead, he had locked his eyes on the line of hands extending underneath the net, starting with the very blatant sun on Kageyama’s wrist, to the odd squarish yet squiggly mess on their number 6’s wrist, down to the absolutely HUGE tree on the person shaking Iwaizumi’s hand. He couldn’t help but gape when he got to him, looking up only to confirm that it belonged to the number 2, the vice-captain that Oikawa had called “refreshing.” The tree’s roots looked like they wound around to the front of his wrist, the branches extending up onto the bottom of his palm, and Shigeru could honestly say that he’d never seen any soulmate mark so big.

A glance at his face though, showed that he was actually looking to the side, at Oikawa and the captain’s clasped hands, a thoughtful look on his pretty features. It was hard to see that far down, but Shigeru could just make out a matching enormous mess on the captain’s wrist, although on him, it looked like a rainstorm, complete with clouds and falling rain and even grass, what the fresh hell. But the vice-captain’s eyes had been firmly locked on Oikawa’s wrist, and Shigeru could remember being confused as to why he found the lanky cat thing so impressive when he and his soulmate had sprawling masterpieces on their own wrists, but he supposed it was because he thought it had looked familiar.

“Why’s he telling you now?” Matsukawa wanted to know, wandering over with his eyebrows raised. “Seems pretty random.”

“Secret Karasuno distraction strategy, probably,” Hanamaki nodded sagely, snickering at Oikawa’s put-upon pout.

“He said that they’re at a training camp with the person, and he wanted to make sure he was right before telling me,” Oikawa protested, holding Iwaizumi’s phone protectively to his chest, like any of the third years would yank it away from him. They might, knowing them.

“So is it a guy?” Hanamaki asked, curiosity peeked. “Is it a volleyball player?”

“I don’t know, let me ask,” Oikawa bent back over the phone, sticking his tongue out as he furiously typed away.

“You sure you should be getting your hopes up?” Iwaizumi asked. “You’re not even sure if he’s right.”

“Why not ask for a picture?” Shigeru flushed when all four heads snapped around to regard him with interest. “Uh, I mean, if Sugawara-san knows them and all, it shouldn’t be that weird, right?” He smiled sheepishly.

“You’re brilliant, Yaha-chan!” Oikawa spared a moment to beam happily at him before he went back to the phone. “Alright, I just asked!” He started rocking on his feet, looking for all the world like an overgrown child waiting for a present. “What’s taking him so long?”

“I’m starting to fear for my phone,” Iwaizumi muttered to Matsukawa, receiving a mocking pat on the back as his only consolation.

“What’s going on?” Shinji appeared at his elbow, glancing at the third years questioningly.

“Karasuno’s vice-captain thinks he knows Oikawa-san’s soulmate,” Shigeru told him, before looking around. “Are the spikers done practicing?”

“Eh, sort of,” Shinji shrugged, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Kyoutani is giving Kindaichi some pointers, so I thought I’d split before he noticed he was being an honorable senpai and stopped.”

“ _What?_ ” Shigeru looked over his shoulder and he could see Kyoutani’s back, broad and stiff as he brought his arm around in mimicry of his signature-inner spike, before he stood back and watched as Kindaichi sloppily went through the same motion, before shaking his head and saying something that made Kindaichi turn the color of milk while Kunimi snickered nearby.

“It looks like he’s terrorizing him instead,” Shigeru frowned, feeling the familiar anger fighting for first place with something else unknown but equally as annoying in his chest.

“Yeah, but its Kyoutani,” Shinji shrugged again. “That was going to happen anyway.” Anything Shigeru could have said to that was interrupted by an unholy shriek that made both second years nearly jump out of their skins.

“What the fuck, Shittykawa!” Iwaizumi bellowed, reaching over to pry the phone from Oikawa’s hands. “What is it?”

“No, no, no, stop, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa shoved a hand into Iwaizumi’s face, holding the phone up to his nose with the other, and if it wasn’t such a funny scene, Shigeru was sure that he would be worrying about the continued health and safety of his captain. “Oh my God! He found them! Mr. Refreshing actually found my soulmate!”

“Are you sure?” Hanamaki started darting his head around, trying to get a look at the screen. “How can you be sure? Let me seeeeee!”

Iwaizumi swatting at Oikawa’s unsurprisingly agile hand while Hanamaki darted around them like a drunk bee easily made Shigeru regret that he didn’t have his phone on him, but Matsukawa ended the scene too soon when he reached over everyone’s heads and plucked the phone out of Oikawa’s hand, ignoring his protests as he looked at the screen.

“Woah, that looks like,” He tilted his head to the side, “Like an alien, or something.”

“Must be it then,” Iwaizumi snorted, slapping at Oikawa’s hand one last time.

“Let me see!” Hanamaki groaned, leaning into Matsukawa’s space to look. “Oh, okay, wow, that does look like an alien.” He grabbed Oikawa’s hand, jerking it wrist up. “Let’s compare.”

As Matsukawa brought the phone down next to Oikawa’s wrist, Shigeru couldn’t help but inch closer, trying to tell himself that the thick feeling settling in his stomach was just curiosity, not anything darker.

Displayed on the screen was a thick, sturdy looking tanned wrist, leading up to what Shigeru was sure was an impressive forearm before the picture cut off, and on it, a very familiar, lanky, slinky _thing_ , although it didn’t look like a cat, like it did on Oikawa, but side by side, they were obviously the same thing, and that part always gave Shigeru a headache, without fail.

Iwaizumi whistled. “Damn, he really did know them.”

Shinji narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “It does look like an alien, a little, I guess?”

“Looks like a chupacabra.” Shigeru did _not_ yelp at the gruff voice that suddenly sounded to his right, but it was a close thing. Kyoutani had apparently moved towards them without making a sound, and now he was standing next to Yahaba with his arms crossed, his usual scowl ever present as he glared down at the screen.

“Oh my God,” Matsukawa wheezed, hunching over as he began to laugh, Hanamaki bursting into peals of laughter right next to him. “He’s right!” He jabbed at the screen. “It does, it totally does!”

Hanamaki reached over and slapped Kyoutani on the back, tears brimming in his eyes. “G-good one, Kyoutani!”

Kyoutani just frowned. “I’m serious.”

“That makes it better,” Iwaizumi was chuckling himself, repossessing his phone and taking a long look at it himself. “Does look like a chupacabra, though.”

“Give it baaaack, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa whined. “I want to talk to them!”

“Go talk to them on your own phone, then,” Iwaizumi told him, fingers tapping away before he slid the phone shut. “I sent Sugawara your contact information, told him to give it to whoever that was.”

“You’re the best, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa chirped, brightening up immediately as he ran out of the gym, happily informing the coaches that he had found his soulmate on the way out, leaving Irihata shaking his head with a wistful sigh while Mizuguchi yelled after him to stop wasting time and hurry back.

“Damn,” Matsukawa sighed as he finally straightened up. “He’s never going to shut up now.”

“That was a guy, right?” Hanamaki looked thoughtful. “That was definitely a guy’s arm. Does Oikawa even like guys?”

“He’s never said he doesn’t,” Iwaizumi shrugged, like that was answer enough. It might be, to him. “Now come on, everyone back to work!”

As everyone broke up to go back to their individual practices, Shigeru heard Kyoutani mutter under his breathe, “Always knew Oikawa was a blood-sucking extraterrestrial.”

He tried very bravely to contain his snort, but Shinji didn’t even try to hold back his chuckle, and then it was a matter of trying to ignore the squirming feeling in his chest as Kyoutani’s eyes fell back on him, strangely searching before he trudged back over to Kindaichi and Kunimi.

* * *

 

Shigeru had thought that would be the end of the matter, which he could admit to himself was very naive and foolish of him. Oikawa had spent the next week and a half tapping away at his phone whenever they had a break, giggling and blurting out random tidbits of information to whoever was nearby, usually either a very unamused Iwaizumi or Shigeru himself:

_“His name is Kuroo Tetsurou,”_ Apparently, both Hanamaki and Iwaizumi had been right, and Oikawa’s soulmate was a guy and Oikawa really didn’t care at all.

_“He’s a third year at Nekoma High School. Ooh, he’s smart! He’s in the college prep class!”_

_“He plays volleyball too! He’s a middle-blocker, Iwa-chan!”_

_“His favorite food is grilled salted mackerel pike, is that weird? Yaha-chan, is that weird?”_

_“Ugh, he’s too friendly with Karasuno. Well, we can’t all be perfect, I guess.”_

_“His favorite animals are cats, isn’t that funny? That makes a lot of sense, though.”_

By the following Sunday, Shigeru was at the end of his rope. Every comment was slowly wearing away at his patience and it was getting harder and harder to deny that the ugly thick feeling in his stomach was jealousy. He had always considered himself an unenvious person, it was a trait he thought Oikawa could recognize in him, probably one of the main reasons Oikawa didn’t actually consider him a threat and chose to mentor him instead of relegating him to the same category of Public Enemy Number One as Kageyama, but he couldn’t help the kneejerk rise of frustration every time Oikawa looked down at his phone and his expression brightened.

To his secretly bitter disappointment, Oikawa’s newfound soulmate wasn’t actually getting in the way of practices, team or private, so he didn’t have anything to complain about to the coaches or Iwaizumi. If anything, Oikawa’s serves were probably packing more power than usual, as if finding his soulmate had given him the extra edge that he’d been looking for. Kunimi and Kindaichi had both started diving out of the way whenever Oikawa was practicing his serves, and Shinji just outright refused to even try receiving them now.

As their Sunday practice wore on though, Oikawa’s cellphone remained suspiciously quiet, something that everyone was made aware of every time Oikawa picked it up and let out a giant sigh, forlornly staring at his silent phone as if he could guilt it into showing him a message. At least this time Shigeru knew he wasn’t the only one getting fed up; Iwaizumi was steadily looking more and more murderous, Kunimi had developed a conditioned facial twitch every time Oikawa even looked at the bench, Matsukawa and Hanamaki had stopped teasing him and had just settled for groaning loudly every time, and Kyoutani may or may not have actually burst a volleyball at the seams that last time. Enough was enough.

“That’s it!” Iwaizumi finally exploded sometime during their afternoon practice. “If you don’t put that thing away, I’m going to break it, I swear to god, Trashikawa.”

“Don’t be mean, Iwa-chan,” But Oikawa curled himself over his phone anyway, eyeing Iwaizumi’s clenched fists and impressively bulging biceps suspiciously. “I’m worried; Kuroo-chan’s never gone this long without answering me.”

“Maybe he finally got tired of you,” Kyoutani muttered as he stormed by, the sad remains of a volleyball clenched in his fist, his wristband bunching weirdly around the tensed tendons of his wrist, almost letting Shigeru get the barest peek of black, before Oikawa’s indignant gasp distracted him.

“Iwa-chan!” He pointed at Kyoutani accusingly, who for his part only stared at him warily. “Tell him to respect his captain!”

“Make yourself more respectable then!”

Oikawa looked like he was going to protest, but he was distracted by his buzzing phone. His expression brightened like the sun before dropping into a sour pout. “Oh, it’s just a weather notification. It’s going to rain tonight.”

“That’s it,” Iwaizumi lurched at him, grabbing him by the back of his shirt before he could squirrel away. “Give me that phone.”

“No!”

“Give it to me, Shittykawa!”

“ No! Stop, Iwa-chan, you’re going to make me drop it!”

“I swear, if you don’t give me that thing right now-,”

“Well, aren’t you a lively bunch?”

The new voice caused everyone to freeze and turn as one towards the gym doors, where a stranger was leaning against the doorway, watching as Iwaizumi got Oikawa into a headlock with a quirked eyebrow. He was pretty tall, probably Matsukawa’s height, and his shoulders couldn’t really be called anything but broad with the way they filled out the red jacket he was wearing, open as it was to reveal a tightly stretched black tee-shirt across a broad chest too, and Shigeru really needed to tear his eyes away from this guy’s body before he noticed or something.

He dragged his eyes up, not that it was any better, because he was pretty handsome too, in a sly, sharp way, with high cheekbones, a sharp jaw, and a set of very alert amber eyes that were taking everything in in quick sweeps. His black hair was a mess though, enough so that Shigeru momentarily forget everything else he had been thinking in order to blink at it, trying to parse out exactly how he could get it to stand up like that without looking stiff.

“That’s normal for them,” Hanamaki informed the stranger, looking him over lazily. “You’re not from around here,” It wasn’t a question, but the other boy shrugged with a smirk anyway. “Are you looking for someone?”

“If you’re here about the midnight party at the coffee shop with the clowns and the glitter,” Matsukawa started, “You’ve got the wrong gym.”

Shigeru didn’t want to know; he really, _really_ didn’t want to know.

“Uh, no, although _that_ sounds like a great story,” He pointed at Matsukawa with a grin, before glancing around again. “Actually, I’m looking for Oikawa Tooru? I’m Kuroo Tetsurou.”

Oh hell no.

Oikawa managed an impressive body roll out of Iwaizumi’s slackened hold, staggering into an admirably steady stance, gaping at the other teenager. “ _Kuroo-chan?_ ”

The other boy -Kuroo- snapped his head around. “Oikawa?” He blatantly looked him up and down, yellow eyes wide and shocked. “For real?”

Oikawa popped a hip out, crossing his arms snuggly across his chest. To Shigeru, he looked a little uncomfortable, almost like he was worried about something. “Yeah? Were you expecting someone else, Kuroo-chan?”

“Holy shit, you’re beautiful,” Kuroo breathed, blinking rapidly, eyes flitting all over Oikawa.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Shigeru wasn’t sure who said it, but it echoed his thoughts perfectly.

Oikawa actually flushed, ducking his head before peeking out at Kuroo from under his lashes. “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.”

Kuroo ran his hand through his hair with a laugh. “I can’t believe it. Damn.” He strolled into the gym, meeting Oikawa halfway across the room. Oikawa was already offering him his wrist before he was even done pushing up his sleeve, and they pressed their forearms together, looking at the contrasting skin tones together for a beat. “I really can’t believe it.”

“What’s so hard to believe?” Oikawa scoffed, running his fingers over the black mark on Kuroo’s wrist. “We’ve been talking for almost two weeks. How are you here, anyway? You didn’t answer me.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” Kuroo told him, tugging him closer. “We’re in town to play Karasuno, and I wanted to drop by to meet you.” He wrapped an arm snuggly around Oikawa’s waist, holding his marked wrist in his free hand, running his thumb over it almost reverently. Shigeru wanted to puke. “You’re prettier than I thought you’d be, excuse me for being a little shell-shocked here.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Kuroo-chan,” Oikawa told him sweetly, and Kuroo just smirked right back without missing a beat.

“I know, it’s why I said it.”

“Oh God, there’s two of them now,” Iwaizumi groaned, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes roughly, like he could rub the images away. Shigeru sympathized. He really couldn’t call the roaring in his veins anything but jealousy now, especially as his stomach turned and twisted watching Kuroo and Oikawa practically cuddling without an apparent care in the world, right in the middle of their practice.

“Are,” He had to stop to clear the croak in his voice, ignoring Shinji’s questioning look. “Are we going to continue practice or not?” If they weren’t, he would very much like to go drown his petty sorrows in a bowl or two of vanilla ice cream, thank you.

“We better,” Kyoutani grunted from Iwaizumi’s other side, eyeing Kuroo speculatively. “He plays volleyball?”

“Middle-blocker,” Shigeru answered automatically, freezing when Kyoutani turned his dark eyes on him. “What?” He snapped back. “He hasn’t talked about anything else recently.” To his great surprise, Kyoutani just grunted at him and nodded, turning away from him without a single furrowed brow or angry mutter. He had been doing that since he’d come back, just accepting what Shigeru dished out, not fighting or challenging him. It was starting to make him feel guilty, like he was missing something that should have been obvious to him. He didn’t like it.

“Oikawa!” Iwaizumi called, making his way over to the two soulmates. “We still have a practice going on here!”

Oikawa blinked, like he had actually forgotten. Christ, what pull did soulmates exert over each other if they could make someone like _Oikawa_ forget about volleyball practice?

“Oh,” He turned back to Kuroo, an obvious conflict of expressions flitting over his face. “Iwa-chan’s right, we’re in the middle of practice.”

“Right,” Kuroo shifted on his feet, the first show of anything resembling embarrassment that Shigeru had seen yet. “I knew that. Should I go-?”

“No!” Oikawa latched onto the arm still around his waist before he caught on and flushed again. Twice in one day, another soulmate miracle, Shigeru thought bitterly. “I mean, when do you have to go back to Tokyo?”

Kuroo smiled. “We’ll be here for a week. Karasuno’s letting us stay at their training grounds.”

“Guess they could do something right after all,” Oikawa said with an eye roll, before continuing. “We have Mondays off, so, do you want to do something tomorrow? I can show you around; although I’m sure our little countryside can’t be as impressive as the city.” And the flirty smile was back. Shigeru mentally increased his post-practice ice cream count to two bowls, plus sprinkles.

“I don’t know, I think the countryside has some, _allures,_ that the city falls short on.” Okay, there was no way that was anything but suggestive, especially with that dirty smirk.

“Um, ew,” Shinji whispered next to him with a grimace, and Shigeru heard Kunimi echo the sentiment somewhere behind them. At least he knew it wasn’t just him exaggerating.

Iwaizumi had reached the other two, extending a hand to Kuroo cordially. “Iwaizumi Hajime. Oikawa hasn’t shut up about you all week.”

“Iwa-chan!” Shigeru took secret glee in Oikawa’s horrified expression, although Kuroo just chuckled and shook his hand good-naturedly.

“So you’re the great Iwa-chan,” He hummed. “Believe it or not, I’ve heard a lot about you too.”

“I believe it,” Iwaizumi said dryly. “You said you were staying on Karasuno’s grounds?”

“Nearby,” Kuroo nodded. “It’s up the road from the school. We had our practice match in the morning and I snuck away afterwards.” He glanced at his phone. “I told my best friend, but I guess he didn’t bother telling anyone else, cause half the team thinks I’ve been kidnapped, apparently.”

Oikawa laughed and poked him. “You’re a little too big to be kidnapped, Kuroo-chan.”

Shigeru could _see_ the crude response forming on Kuroo’s tongue, he swore he could. Apparently so could Iwaizumi, because he barreled on before he could respond.

“Why don’t you stay and practice with us?” Shigeru wasn’t sure if he’d heard right, because Iwaizumi, his precious, level-headed senpai could not have just invited Oikawa’s soulmate into their practice. “It’ll be worth it to practice against some more tall blockers.” Shigeru felt utterly betrayed.

Oikawa actually launched himself at Iwaizumi. “Iwa-chan, that’s a great idea!”

“Get off, Assikawa!” And then there was a struggle almost exactly like the one Kuroo had walked in on, complete with the tallest boy just watching with an amused expression.

“Sure, sounds like fun,” He shrugged his jacket off, and damn it, he had really nice arms, Shigeru noticed morosely. “By the way, Iwaizumi,” Kuroo pointed at the ace’s wrist. “I have definitely seen that before. I can give you his number if you want?”

Fuck this, Shigeru was going to break out the entire pint of ice cream, sprinkles and gummy worms, which he would enjoy while vindictively watching The Titanic. Fuck happy endings.

* * *

 

Oikawa’s soulmate was good, Kentarou noted grudgingly, as their faux practice match went on. He had been placed on the same side as him, with Hanamaki, Yahaba and Watari. Matsukawa, Kindaichi, Iwaizumi, and Oikawa were on the other side to “even out the offense and defense across the court.” Kentarou was sure it was just so Oikawa could flirt with Kuroo uninterrupted across the net.

Regardless, he had to admit that he was glad that he wasn’t on the other side, because Kuroo had managed to block every single one of their spikers more often than not, only an embarrassing few number of balls getting past him when he was in the vanguard. His receiving was amazing too, so with both him and Watari on their side, they were actually in the lead, and any situation where he was winning against Oikawa was a great one. He’d offer to pay for the ring himself if Kuroo wanted to propose right then and there at this rate.

Everyone else seemed to be getting along with him too, Hanamaki and Matsukawa being the two that took a shining to him the quickest, since he gave as good as they did, shooting back sassy responses without missing a beat, but even Iwaizumi seemed to regard him with some respect after getting the number of his supposed soulmate from him, and especially after he blocked his strongest straight spike. Watari had been peppering him with questions about his receives the entire game, so there wasn’t any question there about him, but Watari was an easygoing person, he got along with everyone.

The only two that looked less than pleased were Kindaichi and Yahaba. Yahaba had had a constipated look on his face the entire day, mouth pinched tight and cheeks slightly puffed out, and yeah, it was a cute expression, but Kentarou was starting to get wary that he was going to explode and throw something, namely a person, across the gym. Kunimi seemed to think so too, because he refused to stand too close to him when the rotation put them next to each other.

Kentarou could hear him muttering under his breathe every once in a while, usually when Oikawa winked and blew a kiss across the net at Kuroo, or when Kuroo would wolf whistle after Oikawa’s serve.

The first time Yahaba had hissed something about vanilla, Kentarou had almost had a heart attack, thinking his wristband had slipped, but no, he had only been talking to Watari about how much ice cream he was going to have after practice, which was starting to sound like a worrying amount. Besides, he had to remind himself, what were the chances Yahaba would recognize his mark as a vanilla orchid anyway? He hadn’t for the longest time, thinking it was a funny-looking starfish or something until he had actually come to Aoba Jousai, which in true private school fashion, had a wide selection of flowers peppered around the campus, a flower that looked exactly like the symbol on his wrist among them. He had scared one of the biology teachers on his first day when he’d marched up to him, an uprooted flower in his fist, demanding to know the name of the flower, but he had finally gotten a name for his soulmate mark, so he couldn’t be bothered by the scolding he got too much.

_SMACK!_

Kentarou jerked back to attention, watching as Kuroo blocked yet another of Kindaichi’s spikes. The first year landed on his feet with gritted teeth, looking put out when Kuroo just smiled at him.

“That was a pretty strong spike.”

“But you still stopped it,” He grumbled as he moved back.

Kuroo shrugged, winking at Oikawa who pretended to swoon. “I’ve got a couple of years on you, but you have height; you can work that to your advantage against blockers like me.”

Kentarou thought Oikawa might have actually swooned then if Iwaizumi hadn’t punched him in the arm.

“Focus, Oikawa.”

Yahaba muttered something vaguely threatening about spoons and the Titanic behind him.

The next time Kindaichi came up to spike, Kentarou saw it before it actually happened. He could tell just from the swing of his arm that he was going to try something other than a straight, and he was right, because in the next instance, Kindaichi swung out and in, catching the ball in the side, sending it towards the space between Kuroo’s arms. He hit it strong enough that it actually burst through, slamming against the crook of the guy’s elbow hard enough that Kentarou had to wince in sympathy pain, before he noticed that it was still going strong, right at Yahaba.

The only thought Kentarou could entertain as he moved was that his life had turned into a shitty shoujo manga without his consent, and he really wanted his money back. Then the pain hit and he could only focus on the ringing in his ears after that.

* * *

 

Shigeru stood stock-still for a very long eternity, alternating between blinking at the calloused hand clasped around his forearm, to the broad shoulder practically shoved into his sternum, to the blond hair in front of his nose, to the pained profile of the person that had jerked him aside and taken a _volleyball to the face for him_.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Kindaichi’s panicked voice shook him out of it, and suddenly all the other sounds in the gym rushed back too. “Are you okay?!”

“He’s still standing, so he can’t be dead right?” Kunimi’s voice asked over his shoulder. Shigeru couldn’t bring himself to appreciate his insight.

“Did it hit his ear?” Hanamaki asked. “They were behind me, I didn’t see.”

“No, I think it got him on the side of the face,” Matsukawa answered him. “He managed to turn away in time.”

“Kyoutani? Hey, Kyoutani!” Iwaizumi was ducking under the net, jogging towards them, a worried expression on his face, Oikawa right on his heels. “Can you hear us?”

“Mad Dog-chan!” Oikawa stopped in front of them, wide brown eyes taking everything in in the space of a heartbeat. “You’re going to hurt Yahaba if you don’t let him go.”

Shigeru hadn’t even noticed that the grip on his arm was that hard, but Kyoutani was letting him go and stumbling away before he could react, and sure enough, he could see the faint white imprint of fingers on his forearm, quickly fading.

“Don’t call me that,” Kyoutani finally grumbled, shaking his head sharply before looking back at Shigeru. “Are you okay?”

Shigeru gaped at him. “Am I-, I’m fine! Are _you_ okay? You got hit in the face!”

“I’m fine,” Kyoutani insisted. “Not the worst thing I’ve been hit with.” He apparently took Shigeru’s expression to be one of disbelief because he elaborated. “Got hit with a baseball bat, once.” Well, that was the exact opposite of reassuring.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!” Shigeru exclaimed, throwing his hands into his hair.

“Sorry?” Kyoutani frowned, before looked over at Kindaichi. “Nice spike.” Shigeru thought Kindaichi might actually be in danger of passing out.

“You sure you’re alright, man?” Kuroo walked up to them, an eyebrow raised as he flexed his arm open and closed, a big red splotch spreading across part of his forearm and upper arm. “That was a pretty fierce hit, my arm’s still numb.”

“You slowed it down,” Kyoutani protested, smacking Oikawa’s poking finger away from his face. “It wasn’t that fast when it hit me.” Then he wobbled on his feet, causing everyone to yelp and grab for him. “I’m fine!”

“You are not fine!” Shigeru snapped, hands clamped around his forearm in a parody of how Kyoutani had grabbed him earlier. “You almost fell over just standing still! You should go see the nurse, or at least sit down!” He added when Kyoutani looked like he was going to protest. “You probably shouldn’t play anymore today anyway. Uh, I mean,” He glanced at Oikawa and Iwaizumi, but they were nodding along with him, Oikawa looking serious for once.

“He’s right; you could end up comatose if you continue playing after getting hit like that,” Oikawa told him. “You don’t have to go home, but you’re not playing anymore.” At the mutinous expression that got him, he elbowed Iwaizumi in the side. “Back me up, Iwa-chan.”

“He’s right. The last thing we want is you to be out for the rest of the season because you’re in the hospital,” Was it suddenly really hot in the gym, or was that just Shigeru’s blood pressure skyrocketing? “So, take your pick; nurse or home?” Iwaizumi crossed his arms and set his expression into his best “alpha dog senpai” face, as Oikawa called it.

Kyoutani looked like he was actually going to protest for a moment before he stopped and looked around at everyone crowding around him, watching him like they were waiting for him to keel over at any moment. Eventually he just let out a heavy breathe.

“Fine, I’ll go home.” He made eye contact with Kindaichi, “Keep practicing, that was a good spike.” This time, Kuroo slapped a friendly hand on Kindaichi’s shoulder to keep his knees from wobbling too badly.

“Th-thank you, Kyoutani-senpai. I’m really sorry though!”

Kyoutani just grunted before looking down at Shigeru’s hands pointedly. When he didn’t pull away fast enough, he reached down and pulled one off his arm himself. “Be more careful,” He muttered at him, -wait, what?- before letting his fingers slip out of his hold, a feeling of deja vu hitting Shigeru hard in the chest before he finally stomped out of the gym.

“Well, he’s walking fine,” Kuroo piped up, watching Kyoutani go with a calculating gleam in his eyes. “Someone should go with him, no?”

“I’ll go.” Shinji volunteered, jogging after Kyoutani after patting Shigeru on the back, leaving him staring after them, confused and stewing in a bunch of unconnected thoughts.

“You need any ice for that, Kuroo-chan?” He could hear Oikawa asking to the side.

“Nah, it glanced off my arm more than anything else. Although, a kiss might make it feel better,” He could _hear_ the smirk, and Oikawa’s giggle did nothing to settle his stomach or curb his sudden returning hunger for ice cream.

He figured he may have been wishing a little _too hard_ for that ice cream though, because when he went to open his locker after practice finally ended, he was greeted by the overwhelming smell of vanilla.

“What the hell?”

“Woah, secret admirer, Yaha-chan?” Oikawa asked, peeking over his shoulder. “Those are pretty!”

“I, uh,” He pulled out the bundle of flowers, white and long-petaled, and stared dumbly down at them. “What?”

“Vanilla orchids,” Kunimi supplied, shrugging when they turned to stare at him. “My mom grows them.”

Shigeru brought them up to his nose, and sure enough, the warm scent of vanilla wafted up to greet him.

“That has to be one of the best confessions you’ve gotten,” Shinji commented with a laugh before peeking into his locker. “Is there a letter?”

“No,” Shigeru said, squinting down at the flowers. They looked really fresh, although the stems looked cut, not ripped. “There isn’t.”

Why did he feel like he was missing something really obvious here?

**Author's Note:**

> So tell me, who do YOU think are Kageyama and Iwaizumi's soulmates? I'm curious.


End file.
